NZ Warriors 2023 Round 24 Review: Warriors scrape home against Gutsy Tigers in the Tron

After Round 23's victory over the Titans, the Warriors returned to New Zealand, this time to Hamilton, to face the West Tiger's who were the only NRL side to bring a home game to NZ.

In front of a bumper Waikato crowd, the Warriors started quick, but the Tigers showed plenty of fight and made a match of it when the Warriors left the door open. Another ugly performance from the Warriors, but they did enough to get the job done, winning 30-22.

What Went Down

The Tigers took their Round 24 game to Waikato in New Zealand to repay the Warriors for their sacrifices during the Covid-impacted seasons. Both sides were unchanged before kick-off. 

The game began with an early penalty to the Warriors. On the attack, a no-look pass from Tohu Harris put Mitch Barnett through a gap. He linked up with Luke Metcalf, who scored the opening try.

Following their first try, the Warriors looked clinical as they found their second. Shaun Johnson fired a cut-out pass to Adam Pompey, who crashed over. It took an error from the Warriors to get the Tigers into the game. Mitch Barnett coughed up possession, and the Tigers pounced. Daine Laurie produced a late pass to Starford To’a, who crossed for a try. Off the following kick-off, Laurie was in the action again. He broke the line and linked up with Luke Brooks, who raced away to score the Tiger's second try in two minutes.

Eventually, the Warriors grabbed the lead back when Dallin Watene-Zelezniak produced an acrobatic putdown when he scored in the corner. That try was the only difference between the sides at halftime.

After the break, the Warriors dominated possession. They forced multiple repeat sets while attacking the Tiger's line and eventually broke through. Tohu Harris barged over from close range to grab his second try in two weeks. However, the Tigers took less than ten minutes to bounce back. Jahream Bula broke the line and found support inside from Daine Laurie, who finished off the long-range try.

Tempers flared in the game's final stages as the Tigers gave away several penalties for high contact. Within range of the posts, the Warriors opted for a penalty goal to extend their lead to a converted try. After a tightly fought ten minutes, the Warriors scored through Addin Fonua-Blake as they looked to have iced the game. The Tigers produced a consolation try, but that wasn’t enough as the Warriors held on to win by eight points.

My Thoughts

In my prediction last week, I did say that the Tigers would be fired up to spoil the Warrior's party, and I wasnt wrong with Wests taking the Warriors to the limit.

My feelings on the match have flip-flopped since the final whistle blew; I left the stadium and started the journey back to Auckland dejected, the Warriors won, but it felt like a loss. However, I am more optimistic after watching the game several times.

Yes, the Warriors did not play their best, but the Tigers have nothing but pride left to play for and facing a desperate team can be more challenging than usual. The good sides in the NRL can face adversity and still walk away with the win, which we saw from the Warriors in the past two rounds. 

The early exit of Wayde Egan did not help matters, and I think if he didn't get hurt, the Warriors might have run away with this match; add to that SJ not being 100% which affected some of the Warrior's kicking options, and it did reduce the Warriors attacking ability, but hopefully, they are both back to fully fit soon.

There is still plenty to work on for the Warriors squad, and these narrow wins should keep the Warriors grounded and focused; I know we would love to see them put cricket scores on sides leading up to the finals, but I think that would not be ideal preparation for finals. 

Andrew Webster has said that the team has a mindset issue and that it is a quick fix, so as long as the Warriors learn from these close matches and sort that mindset, they will continue to notch up wins, it may not be pretty right now, but I still believe that this team and this season is something special, so let's finish the regular season on a high.

There was plenty to smile about, which leads to my positives from the match.

Match Positives

I already mentioned it, but the fact that the Warriors won while not playing well is a positive for finals in my eyes. If the Warriors always had the upper edge, they could run the risk of falling apart the moment they faced adversity in the finals. But these matches where they faced adversity build character and will give them some self-belief if they find themselves in a challenging, grinding finals match.

I thought Taine Tuaupiki had a decent outing, in his first topside appearance on home soil, in front of friends and family in Waikato; I can only imagine the nerves he would have had. He looked good on attack and defended reasonably well; he was a bit quiet in the second half, but a solid effort from the youngster. It will be good to see CNK return this round, but I hope the Warriors can keep Tuaupiki long-term, as I expect big things in his future.

The top four position is almost set in stone; they would need to lose the last three games to fall out. I don't expect that to happen, and having the second life in the finals is a great advantage, not to mention a chance to play a finals match in New Zealand (even if the NRL force them to take it away from Mount Smart). It has been such a surprising year, I never imagined the Warriors being in the top 4, but the job isn't done yet, and the rest of the story remains unwritten.

However, I did have some concerns, which brings me to my negatives from the game.

Match Negatives

The attack was clunky, no Egan and an injured SJ made things more challenging, but there were several times in the match where Marcelo Montoya was unmarked and could have been used, but Luke Metcalf and Adam Pompey did not feed him the ball; the Warriors right edge attack has been deadly, but the left is not too shabby and needs to be used more. 

The defence has been great this year, but in this match, the Warriors were a bit exposed; the Tigers used their little men perfectly and picked the Warrior's middles apart. The Tiger's adlib football also created headaches for the Warriors. It can be addressed and fixed, but I think a big part of it was fatigue; the Warrior's middles were playing big minutes, which means they were not as primed to defend as we have come to expect this year. It's not a massive concern, but if we see more teams successfully use this tactic, the Warriors could be in trouble.

Lastly, the use of the Interchange, I'm not sure what Webster's approach to his interchange usage is, but I think he left some players out there for too long. At halftime, the Warriors had only used two, one forced with Egan and the other switching Mitchell Barnett and Dylan Walker. I think if they had brought Jazz Tevaga on in the first half for AFB would have helped the Warriors get the upper hand when a refreshed AFB returned. The Warriors have an interesting bench set-up as it is, but if they don't rotate those forwards, it makes their ability to dominate the match much harder.

Warrior of the Match

My Warrior of the Match goes to Addin Fonua-Blake.

I was flipping a coin between AFB and Tohu Harris here, but AFB's running metres got him the nod from me.

As we have come to expect, AFB was a monster upfront, leading his side with 270 metres; he also made 27 tackles but did miss 2, which is actually high for him and played for 71 minutes which may have been too many to keep him as effective as the Warriors need and may have led to those defensive misreads.

He went off with an ankle complaint, and hopefully, it is not that serious as he will be a crucial figure in the Warriors finals charge, so I would aim to reduce his minutes in the next few games to keep him healthy.

Warrior to Improve

My Warrior to improve is Luke Metcalf.

Scored a nice try to kick off the scoring in this match and did look dangerous with the ball in hand, clocking up 130 running metres. However, everything else was lacking in my eyes. I already mentioned the left edge attack not being used in my negatives, which falls on Metcalf; he seldom looked to link with his outside men, and when he did, it was only a last resort. His defence was a bit sloppy, too, missing 3, with some directly leading to some Tigers' tries.

Now he is a hell of a talent and has plenty of upsides, but he is still learning, and I would be hopeful to see Te Maire Martin get some match fitness and be back for finals.

Next Round Thoughts and Prediction

Round 25 sees the Warriors return home to the for one night only Daniel Anderson Stadium to host the Manly Sea Eagles. Who went down 24-12 against the Panthers in Round 24.

Regarding the team I would pick, I would keep it the same, only bringing back Charnze Nicoll-Klostad and Wade Egan if they are both healthy. Webster isn't a fan of changing the team around much, so keep it the same and see if the performances improve from the past two efforts.

This match was the only one I had concerns about after the Warrior's final bye, as while the Sea Eagles have not been great this year, they are still a competent side, as we can see from their effort against the Panthers. Daly Cherry-Evans can quickly dissect an opposition, so putting it plainly, if the Warriors perform like they did in the past two matches, they will struggle to win. 

If they control the middle and then utilise both their left and right edges in attack, the points will come, and if they can pressure DCE and reduce his kicking opportunities, then they should be good enough for their sixth win in a row. My confidence has taken a little hit, but I am sticking with the Warriors to get the job down with a 12-point win.

So that was a once again ugly Round 24, and as usual, I will leave you with some questions.

With SJ, Egan and AFB picking up niggles, would you give them a week away to recover?

Has your confidence in the Warriors going deep in the finals taken a hit?

Do you think the side is missing Bunty Afoa?

What is your score prediction against the Sea Eagles?